War Stories & Advice from the Other Side of the Camera

Portraits

So, when I was at the Battle of the Hook back in October, I had two sets of couples sign up for portrait sessions. I really love doing these reenactor portraits, as it’s a really unusual take on the typical “engagement” or “couple” photos that you see floating around everywhere these days. They’re fun because they combine two people’s passion for their hobby with their love of one another, and I find that to be a beautiful thing.

Without further ado, here are some of my shots of one of the couples, Alexa and Clayton:

Last weekend I had a great opportunity to expand the portraiture section of my portfolio by photographing these two lovely boys and their mom down in La Plata, Maryland. Harry and Edward were both very well-behaved, and though it was sometimes challenging to keep their attention, I got some really great shots, including a few with their family of chickens! I will post a more complete set later, but for now, here are a few early favorites.

This past weekend I had a lovely fall-themed shoot with Chris and Natasha up near Dulles, VA. They wanted to make good use of the beautiful fall foliage that Virginia has at the moment to take some photos for Christmas cards, etc, so we went out to Walney Park, a lovely local park for an evening. It was my first time shooting a couple since July, and my first time doing this type of shoot in quite awhile. Portrait sessions are always a little awkward for me to shoot, especially outdoors, but I really enjoy the results and the more of them I do, the more comfortable I become.

Here are a few “early releases” from the shoot. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I’ve been re-processing some of my photos from the Tank Farm event after reading Piet Van den Eynde’s The Power of Black & White, a Masterclass ebook on working in B&W in Adobe Lightroom. I didn’t shoot much at that event, but I am really happy with some of the portraits that I got, especially these three. I processed these using the new techniques I learned, and I think they look amazing in black and white. What do you think?

This past weekend Marc and I attended a Revolutionary War reenactment at Smith’s Fort Plantation. The event was hosted by our Loyalist unit, the Queen’s Own Loyal Virginia Regiment, and was organized by our friends Todd and Nicole. On Sunday morning, Todd and Nicole asked both me and another photographer to take some photos of them together, and here’s what I came out with!

I rarely do more formalized, posed portraits like this, but I love how these came out and I hope they do as well!